fluffy - axel x mark

66 - who hurt you?

Meanwhile, at the Raimon pitch, Jude and Axel were playing a friendly game of soccer. Or was it really 'friendly'?

"I'm useless! How did I let my team get so hurt?!"

"Stop feeling so fucking sorry for yourself!"Axel yelled. "It happened and that's it! You need to either do something about it or just forget about it!"

"What can I even do?"Jude said bitterly as he aggressively kicked the ball.

Axel rolled his eyes. "What can you do? You're one of the most talented players I've ever seen and you're wondering that? Seriously?"

"I'm clearly not that talented..."

"I'm not Mark. I'm not going to just hug you and say that everything is ok. You need to figure this out for yourself!"

Axel fired the ball into the net using his signature firey move and panted heavily, sweat dripping from his forehead.

"You truly are passionate. It's clear what Mark sees in you,"Jude said quietly.

"Mark sees the good in each and every person, even if there isn't any,"Axel said.

"Maybe that's the best way to be,"Jude shrugged and walked over to where Axel stood watching the steaming football.

"Maybe it is. But that's not the way I am,"Axel sighed.

Jude studied Axel for a while, furrowing his brows. He took off his goggles, showing his blood red eyes to Axel for the first time.

"Your eyes!"

"Nathan has naturally turquoise hair and you're questioning my eyes?"Jude laughed.

"True,"Axel shrugged.

"I felt like you needed to see me as I am to hear what I'm about to say,"said Jude.

Axel looked concerned.

"Who are you hiding from, Axel? You don't seem like the type of person who would give a shit about what somebody thought about your relationship, which leads me to believe that you're hiding it from somebody."

Axel looked away. "That's absurd. Can't I just value my privacy?"

Jude raised his eyebrows. "The way you play with Raimon is different than how you played with your previous school."

"How could you possibly know that? I haven't played with them for months. You've never even seen me play with them. I never even showed up to our game against Royal."

"That was unfortunate. But I watched footage. So I know. You're not hiding your relationship from the world. You're hiding it from your previous team, aren't you?!"

Axel still wouldn't look Jude in the eyes. He just stayed silent.

"Your silence is acknowledgement enough for me, Axel,"said Jude. "I think the best way to tackle this is to absolutely pummel them on the pitch."

Axel said firmly. "Thanks for the game, Jude, but I'm going to go."

"Keep what I said in mind, ok?"Jude said cheerily as Axel walked away silently.

Jude wondered if Mark knew. Mark could be extremely dense at times. Too dense to notice Nathan's massive crush on him, anyways, and that was obvious enough to him. But Jude was an observer who noticed more than most.

Still, Jude was worried about Axel, and how he would react during the face off against his old team. He knew that they were sour that Axel had abandoned them, as he was their star player.

Jude wasn't exactly sure what could've went down between them, but he knew that it would all become clear in the match against them.

Which was why Jude could no longer maintain his role as an observer of the Raimon team any longer.